GCH   

Hug & Kiss Meet

November Gymnast of the Month

Kelly

Although Kelly is only 12 years old, after you spend a few minutes talking to her you have to check yourself to convince yourself that you aren’t talking to an adult.  She is a cautious and serious young lady with definite plans for her future, both short and long term. 

She has some definite likes and dislikes – 

Swimming and Diving – She’s at home in the pool and loves the feel of freedom being afloat in the pool gives her. 

Camping Out – Forget the 4 star hotels, she’d rather see the stars and hear the birds at night. 

Pizza – A purist fanatic.  Don’t waste your money on toppings, Kelly will stand there and take off everything - even the cheese!!!  When she’s down to just the bread, she’s happy.  Gooey bread?   Go figure…Kelly says it’s great; I’ll keep the sausage and black olives. 

She’s no stranger to adversity.  A year and a half ago while practicing bars, she slipped on the dismount and broke her left arm.  It slowed her up a little, but she still worked out and stayed in shape and as soon as the cast was off…you guessed it – she was right back up on the bars.  She wasn’t going to let it scare her. 

She may have gotten some of her competitiveness from her Mom and Dad.  Her Mom was a avid cheerleader and her Dad was a tough football and baseball player. 

Kelly may be one of the few girls that say they honestly like TOPS (also known as Jessie’s Torture Time).   Kelly says she can really tell a difference in strength since starting TOPS and can tell a difference in the quality of her event performances.  She really likes the relay races because of the heads-up competition thrill. 

As a 12 year old, 7^th grader Math is her favorite subject.  Her long term goal in life is as a Physical Therapist - specifically a career in Sports Medicine. 

There is one embarrassing thing that’s happened to Kelly while in competition:   

She was a gymnast at another gymnastic center prior to coming to Hershey.  On that team all the gymnasts had to wear their hair in a bun.  The false bun was attached to the top/back of the gymnast’s head and held on with pins.

Kelly was just finishing her floor routine and unknown to her, the bun had become loose.  As she performed her final pose, the bun fell off.   Kelly started to walk off the floor and her team mates yelled at her “Hey Kelly, go get your hair!”  Embarrassed, she ran back on the floor, quickly snagged the bun and ran off the floor.  “I hope here at Hershey we never have to wear those stupid things” Kelly said. 

Everyone say "Hi" to our November Gymnast of the Month: “Cautious Kelly”